REVIEW: The God of the Woods

By Denise @ Life With No Plot on July 12, 2025 • ( 1 )

About the Book

Title: The God of the Woods

Author: Liz Moore

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 478

Edition Read: Hardcover

Dates Read: June 1-5, 2025

Blurb: Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet, The God of the Woods is a story of inheritance and second chances, the tensions between a family and a community, and a history that will not let any of them go.

Review

There is one thing that I have learned about myself over the last few years – I really love mysteries and thrillers. Why have I not been reading them over the years? I’ve enjoyed every one that I’ve read, whether it was a recommendation, a Secret Santa gift, or something from a reading challenge, and this one was no exception. Ugh, it was so good! Which is to be expected from the GoodReads Award winner for Best Mystery/Thriller from last year.

The main thing that I really enjoyed about this one is that it constantly kept you guessing. What happened to Barbara? Is it tied to the disappearance of her brother from years ago? Why is her family so closed off and bizarre? I spent the entire novel having no idea who was behind the disappearance, not even a single clue. And I loved that! There are a lot of stories that show their cards too early, but not this one.

The main reason? Every single person is shifty as hell! Barbara’s mother is constantly self medicating with pills and alcohol, to the point she barely knows what’s real any more. Her father is extremely standoffish and seems to have no concern with whether Barbara is alive or dead, which is similar to how he reacted when his son went missing as well. Their whole family has this weird, possessive connection to the land that their house and this camp sits on. Then there’s the camp itself, with counselors and campers that you already know are not being entirely truthful. If they’re lying about these other things, are they also lying about Barbara? Plus there is a bone fide serial killer who has escaped from prison and is known to be hiding out in the area. Just in case we needed a few more suspects.

This story also has a lot of moments told in flashback, meaning that we learn a lot about this strange family through the years, including when Bear, Barbara’s older brother, disappeared at the age of six. That crime was only sort of solved, but there were still a lot of questions that never got answered. This framework also let’s you compare what certain characters, particularly in the Van Laar family, were like back then with Bear versus how they are now with Barbara. It ties together the past with the present in a way that’s very engaging to read.

I will also say that this came to a satisfying ending. Obviously, I’m not going to spoil it here, since untangling this knot of plotlines and characters is half the fun. But you do get answers and yes, the final outcome did surprise me quite a bit. Love that!

GoodReads rating: 5 stars